Detroit judge halts deportations of more than 1,400 Iraqi nationals from U.S

The district judge issued a stay of removal for 1,444 Iraqi nationals including about 85 currently detained for removal Tuesday, they have two more weeks to challenge their deportations

Iraqis and supporters rally outside the Theodore Levin United States Courthouse, Wednesday, June 21, 2017 in Detroit. A hearing began on a lawsuit that seeks to stop the government from deporting more than 100 Iraqi nationals who were recently rounded up. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in federal court in Detroit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeking a temporary stay of deportations. The ACLU says possible deportations aren't expected at least until after the request is heardCarlos Osorio/AP Photo

A Detroit federal judge has temporarily halted the deportations of scores of Iraqi nationals nationwide who advocates say could face death, persecution and torture upon returning to their native country.

On Monday night, U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith issued a stay of removal for about 1,444 Iraqi nationals recently rounded up across the country, including about 85 who are in detention and were expected to be removed as early as Tuesday. These individuals will now have two more weeks to challenge their deportations.

The order comes days after Goldsmith halted the deportations of at least 114 Iraqis – most of them Chalden Christians – in the Detroit area. Monday’s decision expands the order nationwide – against the government’s wishes – and affects potential deportees living in numerous states, including Tennessee and New Mexico.

Immigration advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union sought the initial order on behalf of the Detroit-area Iraqis and followed up with a request over the weekend to expand the order across the United States.

The removal orders stem from sweeping raids earlier this month in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested dozens of Iraqis across the country. The arrests came as ICE processed a “backlog” of about 1,400 Iraqis the U.S. wanted to deport because they committed a crime, The Washington Post’s Abigail Hauslohner reported.

The raids also followed a recent deal between Iraq and the Trump administration. In an effort to remove itself from President Donald Trump’s travel ban, Iraq agreed to begin accepting Iraqi nationals subject to removal even if they don’t have travel documents.

The ACLU filed the petition for Monday’s expanded order on behalf of “all Iraqi nationals in the United States with final orders of removal, who have been, or will be, arrested and detained by ICE as a result of Iraq’s recent decision to issue travel documents to facilitate U.S. removal.”

“Such harm far outweighs any interest the Government may have in proceeding with the removals immediately,” Goldsmith wrote.

The ACLU, immigration advocates and Iraqi community leaders in the Detroit area celebrated the move to temporarily protect the potential deportees.

“In its rush to deport as many immigrants as possible, ICE is putting hundreds of individuals who have lived in this country for decades in grave danger of being persecuted or killed,” Michael Steinberg, legal director of the ACLU of Michigan, said in a statement. “For many families across the United States, this ruling is like a stay in a death penalty case.”

Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said the court “did the right thing to ensure everyone is protected and has a chance to show that their lives are in jeopardy if forced to return.”